Gut Microbial Diversity and Ecological Specialization in Four Sympatric Lemur Species Under Lean Conditions
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2021-12-01
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Abstract
The gut microbiome is gaining recognition for its role in primate nutrition, but we stand to benefit from microbiome comparisons across diverse hosts and environmental conditions. We compared gut microbiome structure in four lemur species from four phylogenetic lineages, including 9 individual mouse lemurs (Microcebus danfossi), 6 brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus), 20 sifakas (Propithecus coquereli), and a single sportive lemur (Lepilemur grewcockorum). In northwestern Madagascar, these species are sympatric, but use different feeding strategies to cope with environmental challenges, including relying on tree gums and insects (mouse lemurs), and some vs. significant leaf matter (brown lemurs vs. sifakas and sportive lemurs). From one fecal sample collected per lemur in the dry season in the Anjajavy Forest, we determined gut microbiome diversity, variability, and membership via 16S rRNA sequencing. The lemurs harbored strongly species-specific gut microbiomes. Brown lemurs showed more diverse and generalized consortia; mouse lemurs, sifakas, and the sportive lemur had less diverse consortia with more distinct memberships. Consistent with their fallback foods, mouse lemur microbiomes included taxa putatively associated with gum and insect digestion, whereas those of sifakas and the sportive lemur showed stronger and distinct signatures of leaf fiber and secondary compound metabolism. These results point to feeding strategy, intertwined with host phylogeny, as a driver of gut microbiome composition, but highlight real-time dietary specificity as a contributing driver of microbiome diversity. While illuminating how gut microbiomes facilitate host nutrition on challenging foods, these results help explain how ecologically diverse primates living in sympatry may differentially cope with seasonal or stochastic lean times.
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Greene, LK, E Rambeloson, HA Rasoanaivo, ED Foss, AD Yoder, CM Drea and MB Blanco (2021). Gut Microbial Diversity and Ecological Specialization in Four Sympatric Lemur Species Under Lean Conditions. International Journal of Primatology, 42(6). pp. 961–979. 10.1007/s10764-021-00257-9 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/28429.
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Lydia Greene
I am currently the Director of Academic Engagement for Natural & Quantitative Sciences in Duke's Academic Advising Center. My work involves mentoring and advising undergraduates pursuing opportunities and careers in the STEM fields, and working with campus partners to develop more inclusive STEM programming.
My own research is on the ecology of lemurs in Madagascar, with a central focus on mechanisms of local adaptation in sifakas. Prior to my role as NQS DAE, I was a postdoctoral associate at the Duke Lemur Center and graduate student in Duke's Ecology Program. My dissertation research was on the role of the gut microbiome in facilitating folivory as an ecological strategy in lemurs.
Anne Daphne Yoder
My work integrates field inventory activities with molecular phylogenetic techniques and geospatial analysis to investigate Madagascar, an area of the world that is biologically complex, poorly understood, and urgently threatened. Madagascar has been designated as one of the most critical geographic priorities for conservation action, retaining less than 10% of the natural habitats that existed before human colonization. It is critical that information be obtained as quickly as possible to document the biota that occurs in the remaining and highly threatened forested areas of western Madagascar, to gain an understanding of the evolutionary processes and associated distributional patterns that have shaped this diversity, and to use this information to help set conservation priorities. Phylogenetic and biogeographic analysis of Malagasy vertebrates, each with unique life-history and dispersal characteristics, are conducted to identify areas of high endemism potentially associated with underlying geological features, and also to test for the role that geographic features have played in generating patterns of vertebrate diversity and distribution. My lab also has a significant focus on capacity-building through the education and training of both American and Malagasy students. Research opportunities for American graduate students are enhanced by the formation of Malagasy/American partnerships.
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